The last years of life of Saken Seifullin

Abstract

The article provides an overview of sources considering the last years of life of one of the founders of Kazakh Soviet literature, a public figure Saken Seifullin. During the study of archival materials and periodicals, the author shows the contribution of S.Seifullin to the study of the problems of literary criticism and the main directions of his activities in the Writers Union were analyzed. The negative effects of the Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of April 23, 1932 «On Fiction», the struggle against formalism and naturalism in literature on the development of national literature were studied. The author, diversifying social and literary activities of S. Seifullin, determined that S.Seifullin was not only a supporter of the Bolshevik ideology, but also its opponent and developed his own view to the policy of the «Small October» conducted by F. Goloshchekin in Kazakhstan. Introducing the documents of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs into the scientific circulation, the author comprehensively analyzed and studied the reasons for the accusation of S. Seifullin in nationalism and Trotskyism. Archival documents show that the accusations made against the Kazakh intelligentsia, and in particular against S. Seifullin, are baseless and demonstrate the deliberate Soviet policy of «Small October». The author formulates the conclusions about the socio-political life in Kazakhstan in the period of study.